A long time I ago I knit myself a crop top of sorts to practice bust shaping. It was a little bit inspired by a bralette I found on Etsy and a little bit inspired by all the Tank Girl I had been reading. That top might be one of my favorite things I’ve knit. There’s just something about it that I love. When I made it I never really planned on wearing it, but as crop tops crept back into style, I started looking at it a little differently.
I decided to knit myself a new crop top that was meant to be worn, and that’s how this one came to be! I knit it using Quince and Co Chickadee so it’s a little lighter weight than the old top with its DK weight yarn and stranded colorwork. I also made the bottom band deeper so it gives a little more coverage and looks less like a bralette. But overall, the construction is pretty similar. The bottom band is an elastic casing so the top fits snuggly. The bust is shaped using short rows, and the top edge is finished with a backwards i-cord bind off. The center is gathered, and stitches are picked up to add the center placket and straps. The halterneck straps button at the back of the neck like they do on my old top, and I added some matching decorative buttons to the front.
I don’t know if there are many people who want a skimpy knit crop top, but I really wanted to write up a pattern for this, none the less. I spent a long time struggling to figure out how I could write a pattern for something that needs to be so custom fitted, and I began to research the capabilities of PDFs and found a way to make a customized pattern generator. All you have to do is plug in your measurements, and the details of the pattern automatically fill in. It’s pretty cool, but I’m definitely going to need some test knitters for that!
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